


Just Let It Be

by loudspeakr



Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: Childhood Memories, Family, Fatherhood, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Internal Conflict, Reminiscing, Sleepovers, Songwriting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-12
Updated: 2016-04-12
Packaged: 2018-06-01 19:23:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6533293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loudspeakr/pseuds/loudspeakr
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>His guitar in hand, Rhett reminisces about his life so far alongside his best friend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Just Let It Be

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [You Outshine The Morning Sun](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6521449) by [amanderjean](https://archiveofourown.org/users/amanderjean/pseuds/amanderjean). 



He can’t quite work out what it is, but something’s changed.

Rhett sits on the couch in his and Link’s office, taking a moment for himself like he does every now and then. His hand absentmindedly strums the guitar on his lap, fiddling around with the strings. He’s meant to be writing a song for the show, and he’s got the music down, a vague melody, but it still needs some work. His mind, however, has checked out, deciding instead to disrupt things with an epiphany of sorts.

Something’s changed. It feels more concrete now, more resolute, this feeling he has, this feeling he’s had for as long as he can remember. It never felt like this before, when it used to be a mere thrumming beneath the surface, never in the spotlight but always present. Rhett doesn’t know what’s brought this on. They’ve always been like this: the best friends who love each other in a way nobody else can comprehend. There are labels, people always seem to need labels, but it’s not romantic, and it’s never been. That said, there’s a certain intimacy in being as close as they’ve been all these years. Link was there for it all: the basketball games, the college parties and in-between, even some family vacations. Link stayed, or Rhett stayed, or maybe they _both_ chose to stay together, and that’s a big thing. Best friends. That doesn’t feel big enough a phrase to explain what they are.

And then Jessie came along.

He loves her, of course he does. She is the most amazing woman he has ever known. She is witty and caring and so beautiful, even in their darkest moments. Yes, Rhett loves Jessie something fierce. And when he told Link that he was going to marry this woman, Link was so happy for him. He had burst with surprise and warmth and exaltation at the news, wrapping his arms around Rhett’s chest like he always has, and told him he was proud of him, so proud of him.

On his wedding day, Link stood beside Rhett at the altar as his best man. The best man, that’s what Link is. And Jessie was radiant that day, a vision in white that made tears trail down Rhett’s cheeks. He fondly remembers a tap on his shoulder and finding Link’s arm outstretched towards him, a handkerchief in hand. Rhett doesn’t cry often, but somehow Link knew it would happen today. He remembers a photo, not of the bride and groom, but of the groom and his best man standing opposite each other, that silly handshake pose, each with a single bent leg held up in the air. He remembers taking another moment just like this, a moment before he stepped out before his family and friends, looking out a church window and taking a swig out of a flask his cousin snuck out to him, and Link catching him in the act. And instead of reprimanding him, Rhett remembers his best man stepping forward, taking the flask from him, and sneaking a sip himself. After all, they would both become men that day. Even though Link had married Christy six months before, they did everything together.

Rhett’s humming now, a gentle tune to fit along the swell of his melody. His fingers brushing against the strings remind him of the first time he met Lily, his best friend’s baby girl. She was a neat little thing, bundled tightly in her baby-pink wrappings, impossibly small. Rhett had been too scared to hold her at first, only brave enough to let his fingertips touch the cloth that held her as she lay in her cot. It wasn’t the same with Locke, who he was adamant he would hold first, especially after Jessie had had him to herself for nine months. There was no hesitation when Rhett first held Locke, arms as sure as they were strong. But with Lily, she wasn’t his, although Rhett knew he would protect her just as fiercely as he would his own. Lily belonged to Link and Christy, and there was something awesome in that, in the truest sense of the word. She was the first, a promise of the family they would build around each other. And whenever Rhett sees Shepherd and Lando giggle over the laptop, or Lincoln and Locke chase each other around the yard, or when Lily comes up to him with an interesting fact to share, a twinkle in her eye just like her daddy’s, he knows they’ve done something good here.

Rhett’s playing is stronger now, as he hits his second wind. It’s as if the music was there all along and has chosen only now to reveal itself to him. He’s beginning to babble nonsensical phrases along to the tune, placeholder lyrics for when they decide on the real thing. Link will be back soon to help out with that. They’ll write it here in their shared office; Rhett probably still lounging back on this couch with his guitar slung across his torso, while Link paces back and forth opposite him, occasionally stopping to jot something down. That’s how it usually goes with them. And to think, their first workspace together after they decided to pursue this entertainment thing had barely enough room to take three steps straight across without walking into anything, let alone pace.

They did this together, too. They created a company they were both so proud of. And of course, it came with unique challenges, obstacles they always navigated together. At its very core, working as partners was as easy as breathing. They complemented each other: Rhett the ideas man, and Link with the details. And through it all, they never stopped laughing. Rhett had not taken one sick day since starting this business; he’d mentioned it on the podcast once. Not because he’d never needed to – there’d been days when he couldn’t make it through without napping for a couple of hours – but because he’d never wanted to miss anything.

One of his favourite days working on the show, though it’d never be the one he’d recall if anyone ever asked him, was something about finding foolproof ways to fall asleep. They had laid down mattresses on the set, adorned with ridiculous sheets, and wore equally ridiculous pyjamas. They each picked a mattress, set lighting turned down low, and attempted to sleep, and it gave Rhett an overwhelming sense of nostalgia. His mind flew back to their childhood: spending the night over at Link’s house, a mattress on the floor just like this, only the moonlight through the window illuminating the room, as he fought the sleep away from his best friend by making him giggle over and over again. And they would talk and laugh together in the darkness, one time until the morning when brilliant shades of mottled purple and golden orange would streak across the sky, announcing the sun’s return. And after those nights, though they never got enough sleep, they would always wake when one of their mothers called up to them, and they would race down to breakfast and then out the door, ready for whatever adventure awaited them that day.

If only he knew the adventures they would have.

And now he’s sitting here, a song and an unsettled heart to keep him company. What was wrong? No, nothing was wrong. Everything was right and perfect in the world. Tonight, Rhett would go home to his family and spend his evening telling his children stories and listening to theirs, and then he would fall asleep with his adoring wife beside him. But he would have to go home and say goodbye to Link, and that is what’s irking him, he realises. He wants more: he wants more than a conversation in the front seat of the car, he wants more than rushed lunches before meetings, he wants more than these song-writing sessions. He misses his friend and he misses their adventures, and even though he knows he has the best job in the world, the best friends and colleagues, the best sons, _Jessie_ , he would give it all up for a lifetime of grand adventures with Link.

He utters the lyric before he can really think about it.

“ _She would never forgive me…_ ”

Rhett’s voice is rough and low, as he lets the despair he feels seep into his vocals. Does he really mean that? Would he really give everything up for _that_? Despair is replaced with a bubbling anger: never mind her, _Link_ would never forgive him. Link would never be so selfish to think this way, to even consider abandoning their families and all of their hard work. Though he always has in the past, Link would never side with Rhett on this.

“ _I’m gonna let it die, nobody has to know…_ ”

And that’s all there is to it. He’s talked himself down again, just like the last time a few years ago. It worked back then; it should work again now. He feels it ebb away like the slow burn of a hot pepper after the ice-cream, no longer in the spotlight but still present.

“ _Gonna let it die, I’m gonna love her tonight…_ ”

Rhett isn’t stupid: he knows this feeling will never leave him. This sense of loss will be his until his final breath. He isn’t hindered when he hears the footsteps coming down the hallway outside; his song isn’t finished.

“ _Gonna let it die…_ ”

And when the door creaks open, his gaze meeting Link’s azure blue, the sorrow that clouded him moments ago dissipates at the sight of his best friend’s smile.

“ _I’m gonna love her tonight._ ”

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by Rhett and Link's "Song For When You Run Out Of Toilet Paper". Rhett's vocals are just so soulful, and the music is too bluesy and sad to just be about toilet paper. So it made me think that maybe the song was originally about something else, with different lyrics and everything, and this is the result!
> 
> The episode I referred to in the sleepover scene was GMM #608 - Fastest Ways To Fall Asleep (EXPERIMENT), which also inspired that little nugget of Rhett making Link giggle. I don't remember exactly which Ear Biscuits episode it was in which Rhett said he didn't remember ever taking a sick day since starting their company, but I feel like it was one of their R&L-only episodes. Finally, I was also a little inspired by amanderjean's gorgeous fic You Outshine The Morning Sun and how it plays with the dynamic between Rhett and Lily. It's really lovely, and I totally recommend it!
> 
> Thanks for reading, and feel free to leave me any feedback! It's been a while since I really wrote anything creatively, so it was nice to get that feeling back. Maybe I'll post a little something again soon. :)


End file.
